Whitewater Rendezvous

Chaz’s fi shing acumen landed them each another fi ne grayling fi let for dinner, in addition to the lasagna and garlic bread they had planned.

They divvied up the chores, and so by seven p.m., they were all stuffed, the dishes were done, the garbage and leftovers safely stowed away from bears, and a nice campfi re was blazing.

One by one, as they fi nished their tasks and changed into warmer clothes, the women regrouped around the fi re bowl as they had done the night before.

Sally spread the torn tent out next to her and began to sew it up.

“I hope we don’t get a bad storm. Even with seam seal, this probably won’t be watertight any more, and the rain fl y has a big tear in it, too.”

“More probing questions, anyone?” Elise asked as she pulled up a camp chair and joined the rest. Only Chaz was absent.

“I’m game. That was fun,” Pat said.

“But we should wait for Chaz,” Megan put in. Her answers are theones I’m most interested in. She started thinking about what question she would ask, when it was her turn. I could do “What turns you on?”

That’s not bad.

“Here she comes now,” Sally said, and, sure enough, Chaz was just cresting the low rise that had hidden her from view.

“Are you up for some more probing questions?” Elise called out as Chaz got within earshot.

“If you like,” Chaz answered agreeably. “Although I have an alternative that some of you might like to try.”

“Do tell, we’re all ears,” Elise prompted, in a fl irtatious way that Megan found really annoying.

“When I was here last year, I stumbled on a very nice feature of this particular place,” Chaz said. “About a three-minute walk downstream…” she pointed in the direction she’d just come from,

“there is a really nice hot spring, big enough for two, right next to the river.”

“A hot spring?” Elise repeated with interest.

“Dibs fi rst!” Linda jumped to her feet and reached down to pull Pat up with her.

“Hey, not so fast! We’re all going to want to go,” Justine protested.

“Yeah, I sure want some of that,” Elise added. “Hey, Chaz, want to pair up with me?”

• 123 •

KIM BALDWIN

Oh, no, you don’t, Megan thought, jumping in before Chaz could reply. “We should draw straws or something to see who goes when.

That would be the fair thing to do.”

“My thinking exactly,” Chaz said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a bunch of small pieces of paper. “There are eight slips here,” she said, cupping them in her hand. “Each has a number from one through eight. One and two get the fi rst shift, three and four the second, and so on. Trading is allowed. Does that work for everyone?”

They all nodded agreement, so Chaz went around the circle and let them each choose a slip of paper.

“Is this ever going to feel good on my aching back and shoulders,”

Yancey said, as she selected her number.

“My replacement is going to have to pry me out of there,” Justine agreed. “We should set a time limit. Half an hour or something?”

“That sounds good,” Megan said, reaching up for her slip when it was her turn to choose. Please please please let me be paired withChaz.

“Okay, who’s got what?” Chaz said when the slips had all been distributed.

“I’m number one!” Justine said.

“I’m with you, then,” Yancey said, holding up her slip. “Number two.”

“I’ve got three,” Linda said.

“Damn. I’m fi ve,” Pat said. “Who’s got four?”

“That would be me,” Elise said. “And yes, I’ll trade so you can be with your honey. Never let it be said that I stand in the way of hot tub luuuve.”

They all laughed.

“I have six,” Chaz said.

Shit. Just my luck. Though Megan couldn’t help but notice that Chaz didn’t seem entirely happy about being paired with Elise. Or was that wishful thinking?

“Then that leaves Megan and me last,” Sally said. “Which means you all better not exceed your time limits!”

“Come pry us out of there when our half hour is up,” Yancey called out, as she and Justine headed to their tents to get their towels and swimsuits.

The six who remained by the fi re made small talk about the things

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Дата добавления: 2015-11-14